What Brothers are For
by aqaws321
Summary: Dryer shoots at Jack and Mac instead of running, and he doesn't miss his mark. Now Jack has to make sure his partner doesn't bleed out as well as try to capture Dryer. Why isn't his life simpler? 1x14, "Fish Scaler" AU. Spoilers for 1x14.
1. Chapter 1

**This was a prompt by just-another-loser. H** **uge thanks to Tamuril2 for giving me advice on this story!**

 **This splits off at that point in the episode where Dryer is dragging Bishop off to who-knows-where, and Mac runs for the pillar in parking garage to do his thing with the wires.**

 **This fic is completely written, and the next chapter will be posted on Tuesday (2/14), and the final one on Friday (2/17).**

 **Warnings: Canon-typical violence, minor character death, gunshot wounds. The death isn't on screen and isn't graphic at all, and the gunshot wounds aren't bloody or graphically described.**

 **The title doesn't really make sense until you read, like, the last line, but I liked it, so**

 **ALSO THE PREVIEWS FOR THE NEW EP ARE SO GOOD I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL SATURDAY**

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Jack watched as MacGyver suddenly moved to the side, heading towards something off to the side of the parking garage that only he could see. As he ran, Jack moved towards Dryer, hoping to distract the man while MacGyver did- well, did whatever he was trying to do.

It didn't work.

The world seemed to slow as Jack saw Dryer bring his gun up, aim it at the blond, and pull the trigger.

The loud bang that sounded throughout the garage drowned out the tiny intake of breath that MacGyver gave when the bullet made contact, but not the wordless shout from Jack.

MacGyver crumpled, Jack ran to his side, and Dryer, face impassive, hand firmly gripping Bishop, dragged his captive away and forced the man into the FBI Director's car. After he had shoved the man into the passenger's seat with a snarled warning to stay there, Dryer stalked back towards Jack and MacGyver.

The older man was bent over the younger, his hand pressed tightly against the wound in the blond's thigh, just above his kneecap, and MacGyver was lying on his back on the floor, pale and shaking. Jack's head whipped up when he heard Dryer approach, his eyes narrowing as he saw the gun that was pointed at him.

Dryer motioned with the gun. "Take your friend and get in the car. Now."

Jack growled, "He can't move."

Dryer shifted his gun's aim in the blink of an eye and fired off a shot that hit the concrete just a few inches away from MacGyver's head. The young agent let out an involuntary yelp and attempted to flinch away, but, due to the pain he was currently in, the yelp turned into a cry of pain and he was unable to move.

Dryer said calmly, "Perhaps I wasn't quite clear. Now."

Jack gave a quick, jerky nod. Quickly, he tore off part of MacGyver's shirt and wrapped it around the wound, tying it tightly. Then, gently, he patted Mac's face. "Hey, we gotta get you up, buddy, okay?"

There was no response. MacGyver was so out of it from the pain that he barely processed that Jack was speaking, much less what was being said. Dryer, losing patience, fired another round, this one even closer to Mac's ear. "Either you get him in the car or I kill him right now."

Jack, trembling with rage, finally went with his only option. "Fine."

Placing an arm underneath Mac's shoulders and another beneath his legs, Jack picked the younger man up and carried him to the car, placing him in the back seat directly behind the passenger side. Then, at Dryer's command, he got in the driver's seat.

Dryer himself got in the back seat behind the driver's side, where Jack would be unable to do anything to Dryer. He said, "Follow my directions, and I won't kill anyone. Don't, and you'll be the first to die, followed by your friend and Bishop here."

They drove through the streets, the only sounds in the car Dryer's directions to Jack and the gasps of pain from MacGyver. After about fifteen minutes, they reached a small, nondescript house on the outskirts of the city. After Jack had parked the car in the garage, Dryer motioned for him to get out. "Go inside the house. You too, Bishop."

Jack frowned. "What about MacGyver?"

Dryer narrowed his eyes in suspicion, obviously thinking. "If you try anything, I'll kill him."

Jack nodded. Then, at Dryer's reluctant nod, he opened the back door and picked his friend back up. The younger man had lost consciousness, thankfully. Bishop opened the door leading into the house, and Jack set MacGyver down on the couch- or, rather, he tried to, but Dryer said, "Not there. I don't want the upholstery getting stained."

Trying to hide his outrage, Jack gently lowered Mac to the ground, eliciting a small moan. Ignoring Dryer, who was impassively watching the scene, Jack gently lifted the makeshift bandage that had become stained with blood, hissing through his teeth at the sight of the sluggishly bleeding wound.

Jack turned to Dryer, saying, "If I don't get something to stop the bleeding, he's gonna die."

Dryer shrugged, a lazy, careless motion that gave no hint of the fact that a man's life rested upon his decision. "And I care why, exactly?"

"If he dies, you'll have to deal with a body." Jack saw that this wasn't getting through to the man. He desperately tried another vein of argument. "He's brilliant; it'd be a shame to let him die."

It hurt Jack to reduce his friend to nothing more than his genius intellect, something he had seen other people do so many times he'd lost count, but he knew that that was the only thing that would get through to this man. When Dryer seemed to be on the verge of agreeing, Jack gritted his teeth and added, "Please."

Finally, Dryer sighed. "Fine. In the bathroom in the hall there's a medical kit. You can get it and bring it in here. And remember-"

Jack cut him off. "Yeah, no funny business, I get it."

The brunet pushed himself to his feet without a sound. He headed towards the bathroom, taking in his surroundings with the preciseness of a trained agent.

The house was a small affair, with minimal furniture and a bit of a modern look about it. The paint on the walls was neutral, and the walls were unadorned, which meant that the man most likely regarded this as a safe house, instead of a permanent living place. Jack felt himself relax a bit at that. As the brunet walked past the kitchen, Jack caught sight of almost-new appliances, sparkling and unused. What really caught his eye, though, was the picture frame on the wall that contained a picture of a dog.

Weird, Jack thought, but didn't dwell on the subject. As he continued down the hall to the bathroom, Jack thought furiously.

Given the nature of safe houses, most people were much more unfamiliar with their surroundings than in their own homes. If worst came to worst and Jack had to fight Dryer in here, the man wouldn't be at too much of an advantage, and Jack knew that, being a former Delta Force agent, he himself had training, including, but not limited to, using his surroundings, and not many others had that kind of experience.

Comforted a bit by this knowledge, Jack found the bathroom and the med kit. He tried to see if there was anything else that he could use for a weapon, like a razor, but there was nothing apparent, and the agent was reluctant to leave Mac alone with only Bishop as a line of defense against Dryer for too long.

As he turned to leave, Jack heard a gunshot crack through the house, followed immediately by a choked-off shout.

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 **the bit about reducing mac to his intellect was inspired partly by TheGirlWhoRemembers.**


	2. Chapter 2

**minor character death at the beginning of the chapter. it's not graphic at all, though.**

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Jack raced back towards the living room, his heart in his mouth, the med kit thumping against his leg. Had Dryer shot Mac, decided he was too much trouble to keep alive?

Jack made his way through the house faster.

When he finally reached the living room, his steps hitched, his breath caught- but he made himself take the final step, forced himself to see what had happened.

Mac was staring up at Dryer with wide eyes, and Bishop was lying a few feet away from Mac, suspiciously still.

Jack felt his breath come back. He was saddened by Bishop's death, yes, but he was relieved that MacGyver was alive. It came to mind that he wasn't happy about Bishop's death- but Jack didn't know what he would've done if it had been Mac who had been killed.

Dryer looked over at Jack. "I'm going to get rid of his body. I'll be back in no more than twenty-five minutes. If I'm stopped by the Feds, police, or anyone else you might think to call, I have hidden a bomb in this house that I will activate upon being caught, and it has a very short timer. If you attempt to leave the house, the bomb will activate. It's large enough to take out the neighbors' houses as well, so don't think it'll just be this simple house being blown to smithereens. Am I clear?"

Jack gritted his teeth, but replied, "Crystal."

Dryer nodded, satisfied. Then he bent down and picked up Bishop's body, displaying an impressive amount of upper-body strength.

It sickened Jack.

Their captor left the house, apparently doing something to the door, as it made an odd clicking and beeping sound just after he shut it. Jack guessed that it was automatically locked, too.

Once Dryer had left, Jack squatted by MacGyver, who had gained some level of consciousness. A thin hand grabbed Jack's shirt as the older man bent down to look at the wound on the blond's thigh. "Jack, we gotta, we gotta-" Mac stopped, gasping for breath through the pain, then forced himself to continue in a strained voice. "Tell Matty- where we are,"

Jack shook his head as he bandaged the gunshot wound as well as he could. "No can do, buddy. You heard the guy- he's got a bomb somewhere in here, and even if there weren't any neighbors nearby, you're in no shape to get out of here."

Mac was quiet for a moment, then said, "How- how bad is it?"

The older man looked at the wound he was finishing wrapping. "You were lucky. It didn't hit an artery, which is obviously good, but from the positioning of the entry and the pain you're in, I'm pretty sure that it chipped your bone or something."

The blond immediately said, "Do you need to take it out?"

Jack shook his head. "It can stay in until we get you to a hospital. Your leg isn't bleeding enough for it to need stitches right this second, so that's good."

Mac breathed out through his nose. "Okay. we gotta stop Dryer."

The brunet frowned. "Dryer locked the door. We can't get out of here without setting a bomb's timer off."

"Call Phoenix, then."

"Dude, didn't you hear Dryer? If he gets caught by Phoenix, he'll set the bomb off."

"I can disarm it."

"You can barely talk, much less stand. I don't think trying to disarm a bomb is the best choice at the moment. "

Mac shook his head stubbornly. "Find the- find the bomb. I can disarm it while-" Another pause as he breathed through the pain, then he continued, "While you call Phoenix. Don't have any other choice."

Jack considered their options. They had about fifteen more minutes until Dryer returned. MacGyver could disarm almost any bomb, at least that Jack had seen, as had been evidenced by their brush with the Ghost a few months back, and Jack had seen the feats that the kid's stubbornness had been able to accomplish.

And the fact remained that Dryer did need to be caught, and this might be their only chance before he slipped away, not to mention the fact that, in all likelihood, Dryer would kill them when he returned, anyway.

Jack sighed, letting his eyelids shutter closed for a moment before he forced himself to agree. "Fine. Let me find the bomb, then I'll bring it to you."

MacGyver nodded wordlessly.

Jack pushed himself to his feet, already mentally reviewing the places that he'd put a bomb if he didn't want it found. He looked through the living room and bedrooms, then finally peered into the kitchen, and, through a stroke of luck, something caught his eye.

It was the small picture, right at shoulder height, and it struck the man again how out of place it seemed. Jack approached and took it down. There, in the wall, was a small bomb.

Jack examined it quickly, already dialing Matty. As soon as she picked up, he relayed the relevant information of where they were. He ended by saying, "And hurry- Mac's been shot, and he's barely holding on to consciousness, and I think it might've chipped a bone, given the way the entry wound is located."

Matty said, her voice completely serious for once, "We're on our way. Dryer's in the sights of the agents we have scouring the city right now."

Jack said as he entered the living room, "There's a bomb, too. He said he'll activate it if he's caught"

Matty said quietly, "We'll get you guys out of there; Dryer won't have a chance to press the trigger to activate the thing."

Jack sighed, then said, "I gotta go."

He hung up and knelt by Mac. "I found the bomb, but it's in the wall. You're gonna have to stand there and disarm it, kid."

Mac nodded, then extended a hand to Jack. "Help me up?"

Jack did more than help him; the older man picked MacGyver up bridal style, taking care not to jostle the wound more than he had to. MacGyver was so out of it that he didn't even protest at the way Jack was carrying him, and that worried Jack more than anything else.

How was the kid going to disarm the bomb in this state?

When they got to the kitchen, Mac patted his friend's arm. "You're gonna have to set me down, Jack. I can't work at this angle."

Jack nodded. "Okay."

He propped his friend against the wall, taking care to do it as gently as possible. Mac drew his Swiss Army Knife from his pocket and was about to pry open the bomb's cover when there was a beep.

The bomb had activated, and there were only two minutes on the timer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, this is it! I hope y'all liked it!**

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Jack and Mac both stared at the bomb in horror. Mac's surprise only lasted a fraction of a second, however, as his training kicked in and he pried the bomb's cover open and began to carefully sort through the exposed wires. Jack, recovering a moment later, grabbed his phone from his pocket and sent a terse text to Matty: **bomb activated 2 min til blast get evry1 out**

Jack replaced the phone in his pocket and took a step closer to Mac. He watched the young man's steady movements, the way he kept calm even as the numbers ticked down. Mac said, without taking his eyes from his work, "You should get out of here. You can distance yourself from the blast enough that you won't be killed."

Jack huffed out a sarcastic laugh. "What, and leave you? No can do, man."

MacGyver scowled. "I'm not kidding, Jack. You need to get out of here."

The older man said seriously. "Neither am I. I'm staying with you."

A beat of silence, and then- "There's nothing I can do to convince you, can I?"

"Nope."

The blond pulled four wires from the inside of the paneling, one green, one red, one blue, and one yellow. "It's one of these."

Jack watched the numbers tick down, and then heard his friend's voice say with a hint of panic, "I don't know which- there's nothing to tell me-"

Jack gently grabbed Mac's chin with his hand, bringing blue eyes up to meet warm brown ones. "Hey. I trust you, brother."

The last word hung in the air, and somehow, it was understood by both men that in that moment, it meant more than the casual nickname that Jack threw around so often.

MacGyver nodded once, his face echoing the same sentiment, then turned his attention back to the bomb.

 _Ten. Nine._

MacGyver picked the yellow wire.

 _Eight. Seven. Six._

The young man positioned the knife.

 _Five. Four._

He looked at Jack, nodded, and pulled.

 _Three. Three. Three._

The bomb stopped counting.

Jack clapped Mac on the shoulder, his face split in a grin of relief. "I knew you could do it, Mac."

The younger man grinned back at him, his eyes filled with relief. Jack felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and pulled it out. He glanced at the screen, then back at Mac. "You gonna be okay if I take this?"

The blond waved him off silently, and Jack turned to take the call. "Matty."

The dry voice of his boss came over the line. "Since nothing's blown up, I'm assuming you disarmed the bomb?"

Jack blew out a sigh. "Yeah, Mac did. It was close, though."

There was a moment of silence, and then Matty said, "I'm glad. You might not be my favorite person, Jack, but I don't want to lose you."

Jack was stunned, that was something that he was not expecting, to say the least. Clearing his throat, he turned back to face Mac, only to find him crumpled quietly against the wall, his injured leg stretched out in front of him.

Jack cursed quietly before saying quickly into the phone, "I gotta go, Mac just collapsed, he was shot and lost a lot of blood, send an ambulance."

With that, he ended the call and hurried to his friend. Carefully, the older man laid the younger out on his back. Then he looked at the bandage that was covering the wound. It was soaked through with blood, and when Jack touched it, Mac winced in pain, even through his unconsciousness.

Jack cursed again. This was very, very bad. He knew that the younger man had been in pain, but had hoped that the adrenaline from the situation would've been enough to hold off unconsciousness for just a bit longer.

It was a long few minutes waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

When the paramedics- from Phoenix, of course- arrived, they found Jack holding a towel down over Mac's wound in order to try and stop the bleeding. They took over quickly and efficiently, and before Jack knew it, he was on the way to the hospital in the back of an ambulance, staring at his pale, unconscious partner and taking comfort in the checks that the paramedics did for a pulse every so often.

They were halfway to the hospital when Jack's phone rang. He answered it, knowing that it was Matty, without taking his eyes from the limp form in front of him and nodded to the paramedic that motioned for him to keep the call short. "Dalton."

"You're on the way to the hospital?"

"Yeah. They got here pretty fast."

"Good. I've been told that this is a hospital that Phoenix frequents?"

"Yeah. It's actually ours, but they serve everyone else too, as a front."

Jack kept his replies short, too consumed with worry for his best friend to give extended details. Matty sensed his worry through the line and said, "When he wakes up, tell MacGyver that I expect to see him ASAP for his debriefing."

Jack swallowed. "Yes, ma'am."

He hung up, recognizing Matty's reply for what it was: a few words of comfort and the statement that _Mac will be fine_ , expressed through her usual abruptness.

Strangely, it helped.

When the ambulance finally reached the hospital, Jack saw a group of people waiting outside with a gurney. He watched from the side of the ambulance as his friend was brought out of the ambulance and put onto the gurney, and then followed the team of doctors and nurses as far as he could.

The doors swung shut in front of the brunet, and Jack returned to the waiting room. To his surprise, he found Bozer and Riley there as well.

 _Well_ , he reflected, _maybe it's not so surprising._

The three of them settled in for a long wait.

* * *

A doctor approached the group. "Family of Angus MacGyver?"

Jack stood, nodding, his heart in his throat. The doctor looked up from his clipboard with a smile. "The good news is, everything's going to be fine. Mr. MacGyver was extremely lucky; the bullet barely missed some major arteries. As it was, the bullet caused a complete fracture of the bone, but the way the bone was broken, it wasn't visible from the outside. As you can probably guess, that caused him extreme pain, but he'll recover just fine with some therapy."

Jack sat down on his chair again, hard. He blew out a breath in relief, then looked up just in time to hear the doctor's next words. "He's coming around from the anesthesia- which is surprising, because most people are out for at least another hour- if you guys want to see him."

The entire group nodded at once, and the doctor held up a hand. "One at a time, though."

Jack rubbed his hand through his hair. "You got it, Doc. Thanks so much."

The doctor nodded, giving a friendly smile before walking off. There was silence, and then Bozer said, "Jack, I think you should go see him first."

Jack looked up in surprise, only to see Riley nodding in agreement. "Yeah. We'll wait out here."

When Jack didn't move, Bozer made a small shooing motion with his hand, and, with a small, relieved smile on his face, Jack began to move in the direction of the nurse's desk. "Um, I'm looking for Angus MacGyver, ma'am?"

The nurse looked up. "He can only see family right now."

Jack swallowed, thinking of the few words that he had exchanged with Mac in the house. "I'm family."

Jack peeked into the hospital room. MacGyver was lying on the bed, pale and still, his eyes closed. As Jack quietly made his way into the room, though, blue eyes made their appearance and tracked the older man as he drew a chair up to the younger's bed and let himself fall into it. "J'ck," Mac slurred tiredly.

Jack grinned slightly. "Hey, buddy. How you doing?"

Mac rolled his eyes. "Hurts. B'llets suck."

The brunet nodded. "Yeah, they do."

There was a moment of silence, and then Jack began to stand. "Well, Riley and Bozer'll want to see you too, I'm sure."

Mac reached out to stop the older man. The pale hand didn't get more than an inch off the bed, but it was the thought that counted. Jack sat back down, watching his friend. "You okay?"

The blond took a moment, as if to organize an argument, then said, "Wasn't y'r fault I got shot."

Jack was silent for a moment, then said, "I should've distracted him."

Mac stubbornly shook his head. "Wasn't anything you c'd do. Dryer made th' ch'ce."

Jack sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, then looked back at the younger man as the still-somewhat-slurred voice said, "D'd you aim th' gun? P'll the trigger?"

Jack reluctantly shook his head. "No."

"Not your fault."

It was the stubbornness in those piercing blue eyes that convinced Jack more than the younger man's words, but the message got through. Jack let his shoulders slump as he reached forward and softly ruffled soft blond locks. "Okay, Mac. I believe you."

Mac regarded his friend with narrowed eyes, then announced, "'M tired."

 _Yeah_ , Jack thought in amusement, _the drugs'll be kicking in about now._

Jack drew the blanket a bit higher on the younger man's chest. "Go to sleep, buddy."

Blue eyes suddenly shot open, wide and panicked. "You gonna be here when I wake up?"

Jack nodded. He knew that Riley and Bozer wouldn't mind Jack staying until Mac woke up, as they could peek in while the blond was sleeping. They had both seen the young man on powerful drugs before, and the way he always panicked if he couldn't see Jack when he woke up. "Yeah, Mac," he said softly, "I'll be here."

 _After all_ , Jack added to himself as he watched the blond's eyes slip closed, _that's what brothers are for._

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 ** _does anyone have anything that they're getting ready to post in this fandom- stories, new chapters- pls im desperate for something new to read_**


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